


The New Girl

by summers-maclay-lehane (ofstormsandwolves)



Series: Sunnydale 2019 [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 10:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21034592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofstormsandwolves/pseuds/summers-maclay-lehane
Summary: When Buffy Summers is forced to move from LA to Sunnydale, she finds herself having to start everything anew. New school, new friends, new life. How hard can it be?





	The New Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Any recognisable dialogue from 'Welcome to the Hellmouth'

This wasn’t going to be fun. Buffy Anne Summers could already tell that from the strange looks she was getting from the students passing her in the parking lot. Her first day at her new school and her step-father had insisted on driving her there. It was embarrassing.

Of course, what was even more embarrassing was the fact that her step-father was the school’s new librarian. Hence the taxi service to school.

“You could have dropped me off round the corner, you know.” Buffy grumbled as she slung her bag over her shoulder, glaring at her step-father across the hood of the vehicle.

Rupert Giles, her step-father, arched an eyebrow at her in response. “Yes, and that wouldn’t be a complete waste of time, would it?” he retorted dryly. “Let me just stop the car at the corner and then overtake you to end up in the exact same location as one another.”

Buffy pouted at that, and shifted her gaze to watch the students streaming towards the school. Giles noted the tightness in her posture, the way she hugged herself with her arms, the worried look in her eyes.

“You’ll be fine,” he told her gently, causing her to look in his direction once more. He gave her a small, reassuring smile, and nodded towards the school building. “Go on. I’ll give you a head start so I don’t cramp your style.”

Buffy gave him a tight smile then, and set off across the staff parking lot.

* * *

If anyone had told Buffy she’d get lost in her new high school, which was probably only half the size of her previous school in LA, she’d have laughed at them. But she was five minutes late for class and completely unable to find the room she should be in. The day had been going alright until that point; she’d got her timetable, got to her first few classes, and yet period three was turning out to be a nightmare.

“Hey, new girl!”

Buffy looked up from her timetable to see a girl coming towards her. The girl had dark hair and a cocky grin. “Uh, hi?” Buffy said nervously as the girl approached.

“You looked like you could use a hand,” the girl said with a smirk. 

Giving a small smile in response, Buffy nodded. “Yeah. I’m looking for room 213.”

“You’re completely the wrong side of school for that,” the girl responded, then turned and strode off down the corridor.

Buffy blinked, and then hurried after the girl, not wanting to be left behind.

“You’re the girl who got kicked out of her last school, huh?” the dark-haired girl asked as Buffy fell into step beside her.

Blinking at the other girl in shock, Buffy struggled to find her voice for a moment. “How... How did you hear about that?”

The girl shrugged, grinning. “News travels fast. Gotta say, it’s pretty impressive what you did.”

“No it’s not,” Buffy retorted with a frown. “I had to leave my entire life behind and move away. And it wasn’t even my fault, not entirely.”

The other girl studied her for a moment then. “I’m Faith, by the way. Faith Lehane.”

“Buffy Summers,” Buffy responded. “But you probably knew that.”

But Faith shook her head. “Nah, the only thing I’d heard was the rumour about you burning your old school down. Nice to know that was more than a rumour, though.” She flashed a grin at Buffy and Buffy glared back.

As they rounded a corner then, a man not much taller than Buffy appeared, looking angry.

“Skipping class already, Miss Summers?” he asked in annoyance.

Buffy blinked. “Uh, no. No, Sir. I couldn’t find the classroom-”

But the man didn’t seem interested. “And already corrupting the freshmen, I see.” He gave a pointed look at Faith. “Don’t think I don’t know about your track record, Miss Lehane. The junior high filled me on on all your little pranks.”

Faith grinned at that. “Glad to hear it. Just an excuse to up my game.”

The man glared. “I assume you’ve been informed of our buddy programme?” he asked Faith in disdain. 

“Yes, Principal Snyder,” Faith said with a mock salute.

_Oh_, Buffy thought. _This was the principal_.

“Well, make sure you attend. Rosenberg will be waiting for you.” Snyder turned back to Buffy then. “And if I get even the faintest _sniff_ that you’re dragging freshmen into your trouble-making, you’ll be out of here before you can even blink. Am I clear, Miss Summers?”

Wide-eyed, Buffy nodded.

Snyder surveyed the pair of them for another moment, and then pushed past them and continued down the corridor.

“That’s the principal?” Buffy asked once he was out of earshot.

Faith laughed. “Yeah. Little weasel. Didn’t you meet him when you came to look round the school or something?”

Buffy shook her head. “No. I never looked round the school. My parents were just relieved to find a school that would take me with my record.” She sounded miserable. “They hired my step-dad as the new librarian, so my mom didn’t really bother with the whole ‘checking-out-the-school’ thing.” Then she frowned at Faith. “Are you really a freshman?”

Faith nodded as she started wandering along the corridor again. “Yeah. My birthday’s September, though, so I’m one of the oldest. Why?”

Feeling a little embarrassed, Buffy shrugged. “You just seemed too confident. Like you know your way around here or something.”

Faith smirked. “Well, school did start three weeks ago, B. I’ve had plenty of time to explore in that time. Particularly if I don’t go to class.”

They came to a halt outside a classroom door then, and Faith grinned at Buffy. “Here we are. 213. See you around, B.”

And before Buffy could say anything, Faith had disappeared around the corner.

* * *

The class was awful. Buffy was over ten minutes late for class, she’d ended up having to share a textbook with the girl at the table next to her, and they were already a few lessons into the topic so she was having to play catch-up.

“I’m Cordelia,” the girl introduced herself at the end of the class. 

“Buffy,” Buffy responded as she took Cordelia’s hand.

“You know, if you’re looking for a textbook of your own there’s probably a few in the library,” Cordelia said as she gathered up her things.

Buffy smiled at that and hoped it didn’t look too much like a grimace. She really didn’t want to go by the library so soon. Not when Giles was going to ask her how she was settling in. She had nothing good to say, and she really didn’t want to admit it to him.

“I might do,” Buffy said vaguely as they head out of the classroom.

Cordelia seemed perfectly happy with that answer, and slung her bag over her shoulder. “You’re from Hemery, right? In LA? The one that burned down?”

Remembering what Faith had said earlier about rumours, Buffy tensed. “Yeah. It- It didn’t all burn down, though.”

“Oh, I would kill to live in LA,” Cordelia told her with a grin, apparently not sensing Buffy’s discomfort. “That close to that many shoes?”

Relieved that that was what Cordelia was focused on, Buffy let out a laugh.

“You’ll be ok here,” Cordelia continued. “If you hang with me and mine, you’ll be accepted in no time. Of course, we do have to test your coolness factor. You’re from LA, so you can skip the written, but let’s see. Facebook?”

Buffy blinked. “Uh, over?”

“So over,” Cordelia confirmed. “Frappuccinos?”

“Trendy but tasty.”

“Tom Holland.”

“_So_ attractive.”  


Cordelia took a moment to think then. “Ok, you passed.”

But before Buffy could say anything, they turned a corridor and Cordelia fixed the girl at the water fountain with a look. Buffy couldn’t understand why- the girl didn’t appear to be doing anything other than getting a drink of water. Her long red hair was loose, and she was wearing a denim skirt that fell to just above the knee, and a sweater that looked like it had been knitted by a well-intentioned grandma.

“Willow,” Cordelia greeted snidely, “nice outfit. Did you make that sweater yourself?”

“Uh, no,” Willow said with a frown, looking a little nervous. “My mom did.”

Cordelia gave a cold smirk at that. “No wonder you’re such a guy magnet. Are you done?”

Willow blinked, looked at the fountain for a moment, and then back at Buffy and Cordelia. “Oh.” She hurried off down the corridor then, and Buffy was left frowning after her.

“You wanna fit in here, the first rule is this: know your losers,” Cordelia was saying. “Once you can identify them all by sight, they’re a lot easier to avoid.”

Buffy tuned Cordelia out then, allowing the other girl to continue talking. Either Cordelia didn’t care that Buffy wasn’t listening, or she was too in love with the sound of her own voice to notice. But when there was a pause, Buffy suddenly realised Cordelia was waiting for a response to something.

“What?”

“The Bronze,” Cordelia repeated. “I was just saying how it sucks you missed their Summer Spectacular. They do it every year. All during the summer they let anyone over fifteen in. Of course, I’ve been going long before that. It’s about the contacts, you know? It’s the only club worth going to around here. Of course, they let anybody in, but it’s still the scene. It’s in the bad part of town.”

“Sounds good,” Buffy said absently, before turning to Cordelia. “I have to go. Need to get that book from the library.”

* * *

Instead of heading to the library, however, Buffy went in the direction Willow had disappeared in. Following the corridor, she soon found herself outside in the courtyard where lots of the students were eating lunch. It was fairly easy to spot the girl she was looking for, however. Her bright hair and even brighter sweater betrayed her location on a bench under some nearby trees. Taking a breath, Buffy headed over.

“Uh, hi!” Buffy greeted cautiously. “Willow, right?”

The other girl looked up with wide, confused eyes. “Why?” she asked, before catching herself. “I- I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?”

Buffy blinked at that. “Why don’t we start with ‘Hi, I’m Buffy’, and, uh, then let’s segue directly into me asking you for a favour?” She sat down on the bench next to Willow. “It doesn’t involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while.”

Willow looked baffled by that. “But aren’t you hanging out with Cordelia?”

“I can’t do both?” Buffy asked, already suspecting the answer.

The redhead shook her head. “Not legally.”

Buffy let out a breath. “Look, I really wanna get by here, new school, and... Cordelia’s been really nice. To me, at least. But I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumour that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up.”

At that, Willow visibly brightened. “Oh, I could totally help you out! If you have sixth period free, we could meet in the library? Apparently the new librarian’s finally shown up, so it should be open.”

For the second time that day, Buffy hoped her smile wasn’t becoming a grimace. “Isn’t there somewhere else we could meet?” she asked hopefully. “Some study place, or something?”

Willow frowned. “Yes, the library,” she said in confusion. “It’s, it’s ok if you’re busy. We don’t have to meet during sixth period. But I promised to tutor Xander, that’s my friend, and we were going to meet in the library because he needs to borrow a book, and-”

“The library’s fine,” Buffy interrupted with a tight smile.

* * *

As the bell rang for sixth period, Buffy found herself waiting outside the library. She was a bundle of nerves. She knew that if she wanted to do well in her classes, and catch up with what she’d already missed, she needed Willow’s help. She just wished there was somewhere other than the library where they could work.

“Hey, Buffy,” Willow smiled as she reached her. There was a tall boy with dark hair trailing after her. He gaped at Buffy, but didn’t say anything. “Oh, this is Xander by the way.”

Buffy smiled at Xander and had to stifle a laugh at the grin that blossomed on the boy’s face. It was somewhat of a relief to find that one thing that hadn't changed was her ability to make boys speechless.

“Is the library not open?”

Buffy blinked then, frowning at Willow. “Oh, uh, I don’t know,” she said. “I thought I’d wait out here for you.”

Willow just smiled encouragingly. “I’m sure the new librarian’s really nice,” she said, moving to push the door open. “Come on, it’s fine.”

Both Xander and Buffy trailed after Willow then, having little choice if they didn’t want to stay standing in the corridor. The library seemed empty when they walked in, but Buffy knew that Giles would be lurking somewhere. Probably with his nose in a book. 

Willow took a seat at the large wooden table dominating the lower portion of the room, and Xander and Buffy followed her lead.

“Buffy!” Giles’s pleased voice came from behind her.

Buffy whirled around, cheeks flaming like a kid who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Her step-father stood in the doorway to what looked like an office, a pleased but confused smile on his face as he took in the scene.

“Giles!” She swallowed. “Uh, I have a free period. Willow’s gonna help me catch up on some stuff.” She pointed at Willow as she spoke. “And Xander’s here too.”

“Hi,” Xander said, looking mildly panicked, likely set off by Buffy’s own panic.

Giles just smiled. “That’s fine. You don’t need my permission to be in here, you know.” Then, he turned his attention to Willow and Xander. “I’m Mr Giles, the librarian. And Buffy’s step-father.”

Willow let out a little squeak at that, wide-eyed, before quickly remembering her manners. “Pleased to meet you, Mr Giles.”

Clearly aware that he had embarrassed Buffy and her new friends enough, he fixed Buffy with a look. “I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”

* * *

“You know, if you’d told me you didn’t want to come to the library because your dad worked here, I’d have understood,” Willow told Buffy pointedly as they worked their way through Willow’s history notes.

“He’s not my dad,” Buffy corrected uneasily. “I mean, not that my real dad is much of a father. I hardly see him. Giles is much better than he is.” She broke off, looking embarrassed. “I don’t know, it just feels awkward, having a parent working at school.”

“If it’s any consolation,” Xander said, half a Charleston Chew crammed in his mouth, “nobody’s gonna think you’re the librarian’s daughter. You certainly don’t seem like a nerd.”

“Thanks,” Buffy told him wryly.

Willow shot her friend a mock-annoyed look. “Is being a nerd a bad thing?” she asked. “Because this nerd isn’t gonna help you with your math if you insult her.”

Xander looked concerned then, and hastened to clarify. “I, I mean, not that being a nerd is bad. I never said it was bad, Will. I just mean, Buffy doesn’t _look_ like a nerd.”

Buffy could see Willow fighting to keep a smile from spreading across her face, but Xander hadn’t seemed to notice.

“And what does a nerd look like?” Willow asked with an arched eyebrow.

Xander stuttered some more, before Willow finally grinned and his shoulders sagged. “You know you shouldn’t tease me like that,” he grumbled, cracking open a can of soda.

Willow smirked at him. “I’ll stop teasing if you actually put your cell phone away and at least try to do some math.”

With a grumble, Xander pocketed the phone and pulled the trigonometry textbook closer to him.

“So, uh, what’s the deal with Cordelia?” Buffy asked awkwardly. “Has she always been like that?”

Xander and Willow shared a look. “Only since kindergarten,” Willow said seriously. “She always likes to think she’s better than everyone else just because she’s rich and, and wears designer labels.”

“Bow down to Queen C,” Xander deadpanned. “No mortal can dare walk in her presence if they want to live.”

Buffy swallowed. She’d been so close to hanging out with Cordelia. If she hadn’t seen Willow, and the way Cordelia treated her, she probably would be spending sixth period with her and the rest of her friends, rather than in the library.

“I don’t know how anyone can be friends with her,” Willow continued, years of frustration bubbling to the surface. “She’s so self-absorbed and cruel, you know? Always looking for someone to bully just to boost her popularity.”

Xander nodded in agreement, and Buffy felt ill. She knew they were talking about Cordelia, knew that that was where their anger lay, but it was all hitting a little too close to home. It all reminded her a little too much of how she’d become once she’d started at Hemery. The way she’d been so determined to be popular, the way she’d made the cheer team and immediately allowed the older cheerleaders to force her into bullying others. The way she’d enjoyed bullying others because it made the older kids think she was cool.  


And then things had gone wrong, so horribly wrong, and her mom and Giles had had to move her away from LA.

“Buffy? Buffy, are you ok?”

Buffy shook herself, and forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just zoned out for a moment there.”

Willow looked concerned, but nodded slowly. “Ok.” Still looking worried, she turned her attention back to Buffy’s schoolwork. “It might help to read chapters 10 and 11 of _20th Century America_ if you want some more background on last week’s notes.”__

* * *

“Hey, buddy.”

Buffy, Willow, and Xander looked up at the voice as the library doors were flung open. There in the doorway was Faith, rucksack slung over one shoulder and a smirk on her face.

“Faith,” Willow said, getting to her feet. “You made it.”

Faith shrugged, hands shoved in the pockets of her skinny jeans as she looked around. “Said I’d come, didn’t I?”

“Well, yeah,” Willow agreed awkwardly. “But you’re sort of... Wild.” At that, her cheeks flushed red.

But the younger girl just grinned. “What’s wrong, red? Scared I’m too wild for you to handle?”

“N- No,” Willow squeaked quickly.

Giles had been brought out of his office by the sounds of the doors slamming open, and he surveyed Faith carefully.

“Friend of yours, Willow?” he asked mildly.

“It’s the buddy programme,” Willow explained, wide-eyed. “They pair younger students up with older ones to help them get used to high school.”

Buffy blinked. She remembered Snyder mentioning something like that earlier to Faith. Willow must have been the buddy assigned to Faith.

Giles nodded. “Ah. Then I’ll leave you four to it.” He turned to head back into his office then, but Faith watched him carefully. 

“Hey, B, that’s your dad, huh?” she asked as she dumped her rucksack on the table and dropped into the seat beside Buffy.

“Yeah,” Buffy nodded, before narrowing her eyes. “Why?”

Faith shrugged. “Just checking.” She turned her attention to Willow. “So how exactly does this buddy thing work? You gonna teach me to throw a ball? Ride a bike?”

Willow frowned. “I... I don’t think so,” she admitted, sounding uncertain.

Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy could see a smirk forming on Faith’s lips. “Stop teasing her,” Buffy warned, turning back to her work to hide her own smirk.

* * *

“How was school?” Joyce asked as she took her seat at the dining table.

Buffy shrugged, and helped herself to some vegetables. “It was good,” she said, avoiding Joyce’s gaze. “I only got lost on my way to class once, and I think I should be ok catching up with everything.”

She could still feel her mother’s gaze on her though, and Buffy instead chose to stare at her plate.

“That’s it?” Joyce asked, a little disappointed. “Nothing else to talk about?”

“Not really,” Buffy mumbled, poking at her food with her fork.

At the head of the table, Giles frowned. “Well that’s not true,” he said with a frown. “What about those friends of yours in the library today?”

Joyce perked up at that, and Buffy shot Giles a warning look that he happily ignored.

“You’ve already made friends?” Joyce asked, before glancing to Giles. “What sort of friends?”

“Nice friends, from what I could tell,” Giles soothed quickly. “That Faith might be a bit of a trouble-maker, but only insomuch as the fact she can be a bit cheeky. Willow seems nice, though, as does Xander.”

There was silence then, and Buffy looked up from her dinner to see her parents staring at her expectantly. She sighed. “Willow was helping me catch up on some work,” Buffy explained. “She was helping Xander with his math too. Faith’s a freshman, but she got assigned to Willow in some buddy scheme the school has going on, so once school ended she came to hang out with us. It was nice.”

Joyce surveyed her daughter carefully. Despite what Buffy was saying, there was a slight undertone to her daughter’s words that made her worry. “You don’t seem happy about it.”

Buffy shrugged uncomfortably. “There’s this other girl, Cordelia. I borrowed her book during history, and she wanted me to hang out with her and her friends. But then she got all bitchy to Willow, so I left her. That was when I asked Willow to help me catch up.”

Both her parents remained silent, and Buffy took a breath before continuing.

“I asked Will and Xander about her when we were studying in the library. The stuff they said about her... They said that Cordelia would bully anyone to keep her popularity up, and that she was on the cheer team, and acted like a spoilt brat, and-”

“Breathe, honey,” Joyce interrupted gently.

Buffy sucked in a shuddering breath at that, fork clattering to the table. In a moment Joyce had rounded the table and pulled out the seat beside her to pull Buffy in for a hug.

“I don’t wanna screw this up, Mom,” Buffy sobbed, clinging to her mother as tight as she could.

Joyce squeezed her back a little tighter. “I know you don’t.”

After a minute or so, Buffy finally pulled away, wiping her face on the sleeve of her sweater. Giles was watching them carefully.

“Perhaps it would be best to talk to them,” he suggested gently. “I’m sure you know there are already some rumours going around school. I heard a few of them myself. But from what I saw, Willow and Xander are reasonable and mature young people. It’s better they hear it from you, Buffy.”

Buffy bit her lip at that, and Joyce and Giles exchanged looks.

“Why don’t you invite them back here tomorrow after school?” Joyce suggested. “They can stay for dinner if they want. Invite that Faith too, if you want. That way you can talk to them in private without others overhearing.”

Buffy nodded and forced a smile. “Sounds good.”

It didn’t. It sounded awful. It made Buffy’s gut churn, and she’d totally lost her appetite. But her parents didn’t need to know that. Besides, she’d told so many lies the past year, what was one more?


End file.
